Saturday, July 23, 2011

The standout for the night (19 July at Griffith Uni Southbank) was the brilliant performance of Roar CEO Eugenie Buckley. Eugenie's appointment is more evidence, if more is required, that the A-League should be centrally run. The FFA has found for its staff, then nurtured, and now provided to run a club, a highly skilled professional, who understands the game, its fans and the mechanics of a sporting club.

Eugenie, a Queenslander, ran the show, and Ange was at his sartorial best, baited, shrugged and offered what insider information he could get away with (Roar's new shirt is Puma), to jointly entertain the gathering of the most dedicated of Roar fans. The result was a less cynical and more pro #Aleague evening than SBS and @SydneyFC could muster.

Ange, when Michael Zullo and Tommy Oar return, will they play for us? We will pick the players that suit our style of play.

To follow that up, did we look at Dario? Only briefly. It isn't about money. It is about whether players want to come to Brisbane. They 'must really want to be here'. In Dario's case 'it was not the time for us.. how we want to play'.

When we play in Asia at the end of the season, fans will be encouraged to travel, 8% of the away venues will be offered to Roar fans (not that with the ACL history will seating be a real problem).

The Roar spends more time in the community and at schools than any other code in Brisbane.

Brisbane is perhaps the world's most competitive market for 'football' with 4 mature codes competing.

Suncorp costs twice as much as any other @Aleague stadium.

Ange 'would have loved Kosta to stay one more year'. They were happy with the money they got. But the salary cap limits what they can do. Then what about a marquee? Not unless they play the way we want to play. Someone from the audience coined the phase 'a marquee team rather than a marquee player'.

Thomas Broich's film will be screened in 6 weeks - with English sub-titles - Matt McKay said it was screened in Germany while the Socceroos were there - Thomas was a hero. There will be a special event for Roar fans.

Matt made the point about 'hype' of back-to-back titles but the Roar does have 'certain goals' and they are learning to play new systems. Ange added that there will be more 'recruitment over the next few weeks'. I found out elsewhere that apparently lots of youth players from other clubs have made their way up to Brisbane to see if they can learn from Ange.

The reason season ticket holders can't get their own seats for finals is because they are claimed by sponsors and their guests.

The talks on the sale of the Roar are going well. The press is saying the Clem Jones Group plus an Asian businessman - back to the strikers?

@SydneyFC signed players just for the #ACL and it impacted both their season and their performance in the ACL.

The @FFA's PR company is based in Brisbane and Roar is making the most of that connection.

Brisbane Roar members/season ticket holders are up 65% - so still under 1,000? Compare to the AFL Suns on the Gold Coast that have 12,000 members.